Opinions

Descry Source Code, MIX09 and More

I was recently interviewed by Mike Swanson and Jennifer Ritzinger for their "Countdown to MIX09" show. I figured I’d share the video because it’s very relevant to our latest issue on information visualization: Descry. In fact, that was the intended purpose of the episode – to talk about Descry (spoiler alert: the interview stays at a 10000-foot level; another video that dives into some of the details of the project is in the works, so stay tuned if you’re interested). As with any extempore exchange, we ended up talking about other related topics, such as, MIX Online. Specifically, what the heck is MIX Online about, how is it related to the MIX conference, and why we do what we do. So, if you’ve ever wondered about the dotted line between MIX and MIX Online, check out the video (@ritzy – I *did* not imply that you were obese; it was completely directed at @anyware) ;-,,)

And now, a few announcements:

Announcing Descry Source Code on CodePlex!

That’s right – we just published the source code for all four visualizations on CodePlex. We’ve done our best to comment them and make them easy to download and compile, but as with any software of this nature, we’re sure something will break somewhere. Don’t hesitate to contact us here or through the CodePlex discussion forums. So, what are you waiting for?! Check it out.

Announcing Descry Design Source (aka yes, we’re that crazy)

We’re releasing a package of design assets for all the visualizations. And, when we say "design assets", we mean the source files – .psd, .png (layered fireworks) and .ai files – that were used to lock on concepts and eventually to generate UI elements and so on. What we’re giving away is very, very close to what we used ourselves (barring some quick naming changes so they don’t confuse the heck out of you). In other words, this is the raw and dirty source, folks – badly named layers and all. Yep, we’re that crazy. Don’t take our word for it, though. Check it out.

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